Critical Theorycraft
A newsletter about games, literature, and media of all sorts by writer, critic, and scholar Patrick Fiorilli.
- Created by Patrick Fiorilli
- August 2025
- Free
Recent posts
May 12, 2026
True to Bungie's promise, the end-game map makes the game click. It's taken us a few weeks, but my buddies and I finally earned our way into Marathon 's end-game raid map, the Cryo Archive. Our first forays—unspoiled by guides or streamers—have been pitiful. On attempt one, we somehow locked…
April 23, 2026
Does it matter when a game says something doesn't matter? This week in my "Video Games and Language" class, we read from Pippin Barr's The Stuff Games are Made Of ( available open-access !). It's an excellent book and one of my favorites to teach, not just because of its approachable insights into…
March 5, 2026
I have a habit of setting games down and restarting them. No game have I played less of longer than this. I came of age in what now appears like the nadir of the so-called computer role-playing game (CRPG), between the golden age of Planescape: Torment, Fallout , and Baldur's Gate , but before the…
